Live Long And Prosper
(Musings On The Importance of a Common Pop Culture)
I have never seen Star Trek. I mean, I may have gotten a glimpse of one or the other episodes of the Original Series, and I have been to see one of the Star Trek films on the big screen. But I am just not versed in Star Trek lore. Just so you know, I have had to research the omnipresent #LLAP hastag that had flourished upon Leonard Nimoy’s death, and the “Live Long And Prosper” line. Now I know. Vulcan salute. But still. I know nothing about Star Trek. My husband is a trekkie. Kind of. I mean, he’s seen them all (or almost) and when he holds his hand up, his fingers make the Vulcan salute on their own, without him helping it along.
My not understanding the Live Long And Prosper line brought me to reflect on the importance of common references. It was strange seeing my timeline(s) full of something I didn’t understand. So many people I knew were talking about something I did not understand and made me feel kind of out of place for a second. A feeling that rings a bell though. Living with someone my age but who grew up in a different country brings about these sudden blanks: “Huh? What are you talking about?” which leave you somewhat puzzled.
What? You don’t know {{insert here cartoon character, bedtime story, well-known song}}? What’s wrong with you?
Well, nothing is wrong with us. It’s just that these things that have made me and so many other French children of my generation have no bearing whatsoever on German children of the same generation, and vice-versa. An interesting thought, because I am raising bilingual and bicultural kids and it is funny to see them coming back from (the French) school singing recess rhymes in French that I recognize from my school days, and others in German that I have no clue about, but that my husband hums along.
Sometimes it is frustrating not to be able to share with someone so close to you a memory you can so easily share with strangers of your own country. Sometimes it makes for interesting conversations, when trying to explain how something has actually touched/moved/affected you (and of course a whole generation). Childhood common grounds are rare across language and country. They are easier to find as time passes though. The pop culture of our 20s or 30s tends to be more international, and we have more in common. While my husband has not seen Friends (which is kind of creepy), we have both heard and sung 99 Luftballons or Voyage Voyage and we’ve both watched the Eurovision numerous times making fun of it in the same way, even if rooting for different artists.
I guess though that our real common culture starts when we met. While this means that we have built our relationship on fewer common roots than other people, we will probably need to work harder at building our own foundations. It makes for more creativity in choosing the building materials, and sometimes brings about unnecessarily reinventing the wheel, but it keeps us on our toes. And the cool part is, our kids are our common roots … rooted in the future. Culture it forward.
